the story with no name
by zaiko stones
Summary: in a world where three boys are able to do the impossible they become targets for a greater reason. join them as they begin to realize that the world around them is changing more than they already knew and dont see black clover and think that this is what its about i just used it because of the concept please leave a review and tell me what you think
1. intro 1

_Intro I Light Depletion_

Shadows stretched into large fingers and morphed into figures. They weren't alive, at least not these ones. They were just copies of the shadows of people, animals, and other creatures in other worlds. Anything that casts a shadow will appear here. At least just it's shadow. Though in this place, nothing can cast a shadow. There's no light here anyway. It makes me wonder why I would seek knowledge in a place with no light. I hiked on though…

I was from the Forest of Shadow, so I could easily navigate the rough obsidian

mountain paths without the benefit of light. To make myself feel better I cast a false sun that was supposed glow warmly above me as I walked, but it's light never made it as far as the ground.

Of course, I thought as the sun slowly lost energy and faded until it blinked out like somebody stepping on a lightning bug.

That was the reason I was here. My mother's gift of light that I inherited when she disappeared nine years ago was fading, and being replaced by my other darker abilities. Though why here, exactly, was beyond me. This is where my father told me to go, after years of telling me never to come here. He said that 'this realm was reclaiming what it had lost.' What that means? he didn't tell me. Though he did tell me to be careful and watch for the Dark Ones.

"Don't cast any lights," he told me. "They can sense light from miles away."

Remembering that warning, I stopped at a little clearing in the trees high up so that I could see out into the forest. heightening my awareness I listened carefully Even the Dark Ones made noise I can hear. I lived in the Realm of Silence for a year as a punishment and lesson. Just being there could heighten your senses and increase your abilities of being silent. Normally people could only stand a week there. I spent so much time there that I could see and hear between realms. I could see a battle going on a hundred to a thousand realms deep. If a raindrop fell, I would know about it from over a million realms deep. My hearing increased faster than my sight because the forest specifically works on the hearing and strengthens it at a much faster rate.

I sure hope Dante can last out handling things by himself, I thought. Dante had to fight off quite a few demons so that I could get in. Though I was pretty certain he would be fine. Best case scenario he would be back in Mid Realm doing whatever he does when I'm not there.

I kept going, but made sure I could hear and see everything. I breathed in the cold air to see if I could sense anything that way. Immediately there was a smell of a rotting meat locker coming from down the mountain side, about a quarter mile away. I looked in that direction and could clearly see a shadow through the trees with a humanoid shape, though it's arms and legs were elongated and thin. A wendigo, I thought. They thrive here. With the lack of light and the immense amount of dark energy and fear that was so mixed with everything that you were literally breathing in creatures fear and darkness.

"Ugh, I hate the taste of darkness," I complained, spitting at the ground.

"Ssssssssillyyyyyyy boyyyyyyyyy you do not understand, do you," a raspy voice hissed through my mind. The demon disappeared, but I could hear it even though it was traveling through darkness towards me. I stepped back just as the wendigo slashed at my face with claws of poisoned obsidian. My bow appeared in my hands, arrow already nocked. I released it not thinking about it much. Turns out the arrow was an arrow of darkness, which in turn brought more power to the stupid thing. Who in turn smiled and and promptly disappeared.

"Great, now where did he go," I complained.

"Listen," said a voice catching me by surprise.

"Huh?" I say in my head. I could still feel the wendigo moving in the darkness though I wasn't sure where. Then I felt a small fire burn in my in my soul.

"Don't forget our empathy link," I heard Dante's voice say in my head. "I feel everything you feel right now, just calm down."

"Ok… ," I murmured. I breathed in again closing my eyes and calming myself, bringing my awareness up even further. In that moment… I was everywhere… I was on the edge of the lake of darkness. I was behind every tree in the realm, listening to their thoughts and using their own awareness to track the wendigo. Each rustle of leaves, each drop of dark water, every movement made by every creature in the entire realm ringing in my ears. I brought it further. I listened to every creatures thoughts every voice and sorted through each like looking through a filing cabinet. I knew everything. I knew where the wendigo was going. I knew what he carrying in his hands. The arrow I shot at him was clutched in his hands as he moved swiftly through the trees. In his head, he laughed, which sounded like someone repeatedly slashing one tire after another. " _This will be a trade for freedom."_ he rasped. " _The arrow of the wanted one in exchange for being free to feast on the bones of eternity."_ He laughed again as I let his mind go.

"Not today, demon." I said disappearing into the shadows and re-appeared in front of the thing with three arrows of fire nocked in my already drawn bow.

"Catch this," I yell, letting the arrow fly toward him at the speed of light. He didn't even have time to blink. The arrow hit his chest with such force that he exploded into flaming balls of demon goo. He screeched as his ghostly form was ripped apart by the holy fire.

"Thanks Dante I say in my head.

"No problem" Dante responded." And I know fire isn't that good there, but as I told you, fire generates its own light. Which brings warmth, which always brings hope darkness hates hope." Dante told me.

"Ok," I say energy still pulsing through me. I disappear into the shadows again reaching my awareness into the shadow tunnel. Remembering why I came here. I searched the minds of everything in the realm, asking their subconscious where I might get information.

What I learned was startling. The Black, the Lord of Darkness was building an army. His own energy was calling out to any spirits and souls of darkness, but specifically wanted mine. He knew that my mother's light abilities kept me from going evil, so he plagued me with a curse that slowly seeped into my light abilities. I would not have found that out had I not been here. I now have no reason _to_ be here.

I faded into the shadows and stepped out of the shade of pine tree in the Sanctuary of the Nature Realm.


	2. intro 2

Intro II The Forest of Healing and Dreams and Meditation, etc, ect.

 _Three years later…_

I sat down to rest after just finishing my safe house. Now, it wasn't proper edicate to cut down or kill anything in the realm, but I had a special relationship with one of the major nature spirits that I would rather not talk about...

Thirsty I got up and went inside the house. It was an all natural wood and stone cabin with one big room on the top floor, where I grabbed a jug of apple juice and went downstairs to check on my weapon inventory. Three rooms hid six and a half feet underground, with it's own stock of weapons.

In the first room, to the right of the stairs, there were swords, knives, and other bladed weapons that I had stolen in past years and hidden in my own personal darkness vault that followed me everywhere. There was a double bladed silver sword from Alfheim, one of the Nine Worlds of the North. It had a deer leather handle in the center of two three foot, wickedly sharp, Alfen Silver blades. There was a Magic Roman Gladius that I had taken from a dragon's cave after learning how shadow travel. That was fun.

In the second room, to the left of the stairs, I had my usual archery materials, which consisted of an empty quiver and ten different hunting bows that I had also stolen over the years, though these in particular, had all been taken at the same time during a raid on a monster encampment in midrealm. Dante and I had a lot to pick from after all the monsters were cleared. So I got these ten different bows. My favorite is a long compound bow, meaning it's a long bow, but it's a compound. It's range is three times farther than a sniper rifle of any kind. Which is more useful for me, since I can see that far. The second bow is the exact bow that Robin Hood used to fight off the Sheriff. I had repaired it and re-enchanted it to suit my own needs. There's another bow that is made completely out of fire, but I haven't even figured out how to use it. The bow incinerated every arrow I put into it. Even my own fire arrows. The rest weren't literally bows, but were ancient scrolls showing spells on how to enchant other bows. Though one of them was a scroll on showing how to create a bow using your own elemental chi energy, but I could never get it to work. I kept all these anyway because I'm a little bit of a hoarder and also because I knew that one day I would be able to use those spells when the experience comes. In the meanwhile, they just sat in shelf and collected dust.

The third room was the biggest and perhaps the most equipped. On one wall there were my personal stock of firearms that I stole from a mid realm armoury in San Diego. In a cabinet below the gun-wall are my explosives collected from just about everywhere. I had smoke smoke grenades, shrapnel grenades, flashbangs and whole bunch of other grenades.

"In a corner by a small window sat my armour and something that normally isn't there. In the corner by the window…. A small circle of darkness swirled. "Awe, come on. Not again," I complained. Suddenly it grew and took shape color and all. It took the from of Dante.

You really think that trick will work on me, demon" I told it. The false Dante looked at me and made a face Dante makes a little to well.

"Awe come on dude, I'm a shadow clone don't tell me you forgot I can do that all ready."

"What? What the hell is going on!" I demanded

The I- guess shadow clone sighed. "Here allow me to explain," he told me. "A shadow clone is my energy made into a copy of me."

"Every time you talk you make me think your a demon. Do you realized that." I said, anger flashing in my eyes. My bow appears in my hands.

"Dude, chill. I don't know what the fuck you saw or heard in the shadow forest, but I'm not one of those," the shadow clone said.

"How did you-" How did that _thing_ find out where I was, I thought. If he knew I was there, then he could find me anywhere. The whole reason I came here was because it's supposed to be a sanctuary. I guess I shouldn't have cut down those trees maybe the magic that protects this place doesn't apply to people who break it's laws. I wasn't at all ready for a full on fight, but if I had to…

"As I said before the real me and me share information."

"You never said that!" I yell, drawing back my bow string. I release it sending three light arrow straight for his face….but suddenly he grabbed it out of the air and summoned his own bow. A blazing bright white bow with strings of flame he place the arrow I shot in the bow string and pulled it back.

"Now, be honest with yourself," smiled the shadow clone. "Only I can do that."

"Your lying," I yelled, my eyes turning black.

The shadow clone looked at me sadly sighed and the bow and the arrows disappeared. "Being a shadow clone allows me to have some of my original powers. It said holding its hand out in front of him. A purplish energy collected around his hand. The energy then began to take shape forming one of Dante's favorite weapons. The shadow clone twirled the energy scythe with one hand one of Dante's signatures before attacking.

"You can't be," I say falling to my knees with such force that everything in the room was blasted back. Everything except the the shadow clone of my best friend, that I tried to slay like a demon. "What is happening to me?" I whimper, looking up at the shadow clone. My eyes turning back to normal.

The shadow clone looked at me and pointed a finger gun and at the tip of his finger a small blue flame flickered.

"Flames of emotion Piercing Truth the shadow clone said as a blue fire bullet hit my chest piercing my very soul.

At first I felt nothing, then there was a horrible pain that made my whole being hurt. I screamed in agony as the darkness was being ripped from my body and soul… Then everything went white and there was earsplitting boom. Then… Nothing…

I woke up on cold grass. My head hurt and my vision was blurry. Groaning I sit up. _Where am I_ , think to myself getting back my bearings.

The answer came to me in the form of thick fog in a destroyed town. I was laying in the front lawn of some house I didn't recognize right next to a pile of bones.

"What the fuck," I yelped pushing myself away from the bone and onto my feet.

"The Spirit Realm," I say aloud into the gloom. Ghost white fires burned in the windows of the houses around me. I hear the moans of zombies in the distance.

Then right behind me an animal whimpers. It had an old aura, one of the original beings of the Spirit Realm. I turn to find a huge grey wolf.

"Hello Michael it said with three voices at once.

"Um," I stammer stepping back.

"Don't be afraid. I am Kuza" the wolf introduced himself kindly. I look into the wolf's eyes, analyzing him carefully.

"You can't mean _the_ Kuza, as in Dante's wolf spirit guide." I laughed nervously.

"Indeed I am," Kuza said lowering his head. "Get on. There is something you need to see." he told me

I climbed on careful not to hurt the huge wolf spirit.

The wolf chuckled. "You better hold on," then took off at a pace that no other wolf could top. I held on to Kuza's fur with all my strength, my knuckles turning white from the effort. Kuza took me out of the suburbs at the speed of sound then plummeted off the road into the dark woods. Kuza's footsteps made no sound on the rough terrain, despite his size, as he took me deep into the forest. Trees bent out of our way, as if to allow the wolf easy passage. Even the weeds and tall grass bent aside, clearing a path for the wolf.

The Spirit Realm is huge. Anyone who's been there understands that it literally is bridge between every one of the infinite realms, meaning the Spirit Realm itself is infinite. But the Kuza took me to a very dark spot in the woods.

Frost and ice cover everything. The shadows mirrored the shadows of the Realm of Darkness, taking the shape of monsters I've never seen before.

"Where are we?" I asked.

The wolf sniffed with distaste.

"A doorway," he said. All of his voices resembled the feeling of being there: Grim, sad, and terrifying.

"Where does it lead to?" I ask, mostly out of curiosity.

"Dark places," he said. "Black's army."

I wasn't sure if I'd heard him right. "Black? I thought Dante weakened him to the point of a crippled old man?" I said as fear made my voice crack.

"That wasn't him. This isn't him either." Kuza said sadly. "You and Dante haven't even met a real challenge yet."

"What?" I ask. Surely we've met the worst of demons. Or at least close to.

"If you think that that minor demon of Hell is the real deal, you need to think again."the wolf said chuckling.

"No, you haven't met the Omegas. Or the Eyes. Or the Unnameables." The wolf kept naming off other malicious monsters and demons and beings I'd never heard of. How could I not have seen the creatures more capable than the ones I've already encountered.

I thought about that. "I guess logically, there is an infinite amount of creatures I've never met if there is an infinite amount of realms."

"You are only partially correct," says Kuza slowing down. "There are things out there that you just will never comprehend in this life cycle, Michael."

"You are still human with a human's mental capacity. Your kind may see and understand more than other humans, but not enough, still."

We stopped at the mouth of the biggest trench I've ever seen. It yawned so wide that the mist covered the other side. It was so deep that the shadow crows flew so far below us that you could only hear them. Their caws echoing up from the gloom.

"What's down there," I asked looking into the smokey blackness that fills the gorge before me.

"A realm far from your understanding." said the wolf. "You'll end up there if you don't get control of yourself."

"Where's there?" I scoffed. "Hell?"

"This is no laughing matter." Kuza said seriousness in all of his voices.

"If I had not sent Dante to you, you would have ended up down there." Kuza nodded his head toward the gorge. "You would have ended up a soldier for him. Your dark side would have taken over completely had Dante not hit you with that Flame of Emotion. But that won't be enough if you don't _get a hold on yourself_." the wolf snarreled.

I didn't know what to say, but Kuza wasn't done.

"You are what the darkness wants. Your mind has infinite knowledge. And the key to them getting it is in your dark side where you are the weakest." the wolf continued, but stopped cocking his head to the side as if listening.

"Your ride is here," he said finally.

"What? What ride?" I ask looking around for some sort of chariot or something. Then a huge dark shadow came in from above. At first I thought it might have been a dragon or some other elder monster.

Kuza snorted, "Looking mighty large there, Soul."

The huge raven cawed so loud it shook the ground.

"Be quiet you old fool! You know where we are and what we are near." Kuza warned. "You don't want to alert the attention of the Eyes do you?

"They'll hunt him down and throw him over this very cliff." Kuza said.

The giant shadow crow regarded me with glowing blue eyes. Then nodded and bowed down allowing me to climb on. I was hesitant at first. I kept my eyes on the huge bird as I climbed off of Kuza's back. The crow cawed more urgently as if telling to move faster.

"Are you sure-" I looked back but Kuza was gone. "Go figure," I muttered under my breath as I trudge over to the now skittish shadow crow.

"Where are we going?" I ask. Instead of answering, Soul shoots up at top speed making me bite my tongue.

We flew over the forest and through huge swaths of mist that tasted like dust. Who would have known that the clouds weren't even water. They were just huge clouds of dust particles.

"Don't turn into what he wants," a quiet voice warns in my head. No way I think. Shadow crows never talk.

"I've observed what you're capable of." Soul explains." But your maximum power is beyond that of your kind."

"I know, I've heard." I say glumly.

"No…" he said pausing. "You don't."

"Do you know who I am?" the crow asks.

"Yeah, you're Dante's other spirit guide." I say, remembering Dante mention him.

"I'm surprised he even said anything about me," the crow said sadly.

"I am not as powerful as Kuza, but I was chosen by the Council to be his guardian anyway. I give him his information. That's it."

"We spirit guides do not get much praise. While we spirit guides are obliged to sacrifice everything for your kind,

We flew in silence for a while.

"Where are we going?" I ask again.

"To find Dante," He said.

"Why would Dante be _here_?" I ask, getting excited.

"To pick you up." Soul says. "I can't take you into Mid- Realm and you and Dante have a lot to discuss."

Soul dropped me off in a little glade deep in the forest. Though nothing compared to the darkness I had felt earlier by the gorge.

"Look for the a grey willow," says the crow as I climb off. "And thanks." I feel a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turn. But no one's there. Not even the the friendly shadow crow named Soul.

"They just disappear," I said aloud to no one. "I mean, couldn't they just walk away or something."

I walked on looking for a grey willow tree. Even though every tree out here is either grey or black. So I guess I should hope that there isn't more than one grey willow…


	3. out of the shadows

_Ch 1 Out of the Shadows_

The shadows reached out pleading to me over and over again to go another round. I pushed up my hood and the collar of my sweater for warmth against the cold wind that blew across my already numb face. ¨ I'm already in the Spirit Realm,¨ I mutter under my breath. ¨I don't need to go any further.¨ Voices whispered in and out of my mind, making a sound similar to the sound of a snake hissing at a threat. Faces appear and disappear in the mist around me. I pay no attention to them though. Just my presence alone should be enough to ward of any evils that may dwell here.

Thunder rumbled and red lightning flashed overhead, though no rain fell. My radar pinged as something large approached there wasn't anywhere out here that something of this magnitude couldn't find me. I could feel the aura of this thing. It was harsh white and it pulsed with anger. "Not this again," I mutter as I unsling my hunting bow from my back. There was no need for arrows here. Just my own powers were strong enough to create arrows of light. Though normally Light energy is not my element, my mother's abilities were strong in me, so I was able to create the Arrows of Sunlight, the only thing that _can_ kill out here. Since sunlight doesn't actually exist here, the act of just creating enough was exhausting.

The creature stepped through the grey branches of the grey willow tree I had been looking for. I hadn't seen any others. His aura was so strong that it seemed to freeze the air around it. The beast was big, not much bigger than a street lamp or a two story building. He had thick snowy white fur that covered his huge bulky muscles. His eyes were pitch black that seemed to smoke like his eyes had been burned out of his head His mouth was just an open hole that gaped through hs thick fur. He didn't have much of a face, just the open mouth and the smokey black eyes. In his hands he held a double sided war axe. The blades were of obsidian and the handle of dark pine, which was wrapped in leather.

I pulled back the string on my hunting bow, letting my energy fill the the bow with power. But before I could release it, a bright fireball hit the beast in the face with such force that it staggered back a step. It didn't even seem a little hurt, just pissed the fuck off. Though by that time I could see a black figure. He stepped into a little more into view and I could see a familiar face. "Hey dude I called what took you so long." The beast glared at the both of us with a look both of us understood….hate. You have some nerve my friend said he was wearing an all black Cloak that seemed to be as if it was completely made of shadows. He raised his hand toward the beast and the shadows around him made an all black pair of kamas. The blades aura radiated with heat.

"You like to freeze the air right he called to it. "Allow me to warm you up."

"Dante," I warn. "Darkness doesn't work on him here. You have to use something of color. Some kind of light."

"Got it," says Dante. Immediately from inside his cloak two huge, glowing yellow blades the shape of crescent moons shot out. He grabbed them out of the the air and I noticed attached to both of them was a chain that radiates a bright reddish yellow energy. Only then did I notice his blade was a chain scythe. "Now watch this," Dante told me as he threw his scythes at the beast and they stuck into both of the beast shoulders. The beast howled in agony and tried to grabbing the chain, but the aura was so strong it singed his hands. "Not today," Dante laughed. He grabbed the chains of both blades and pulled the monster with so much force he came flying towards him. The chain scythe disappeared and Dantes right hand set a blaze with furious green flame. Flames of emotion hearts rage he called. The flame engulfed his hand as he balled his fist. He uppercutted the monster and as he flew into the air Dante followed, "Hey Michael catch Dante called as his foot set a a blazed with same raging green flamed and spin kicked the beast towards me. Out of pure instinct my bow appeared in my hands already pulled, three arrows of light already nocked. I released them and they streaked toward the beast and impaled it in three pressure points. One in the forehead and two in each breast. Fire set the beast ablaze turning it to flaming chunks of ash before it reached me.

I stepped through the shadow of the grey willow that the beast had stepped through only moments earlier and reappeared next to Dante as he was flame sharpening his kamas, by peeling away at the already heated blades with hands the color of coals in a furnace.

"Sup," I say watching him steadily sheath his kamas in his cloak. "Why are you wearing a monk's cloak?"

"It's not," he says, looking wearily around the eerie, colorless forest. "I always use this cloak to stay hidden he explains nervously, pinching up a part of the shadow cloak. "But now…"he stopped-

"You wonder why," I finish, absently plucking my bow string. "It hasn't caused you any problems has it?"

"No," he smiles, "It actually has been pretty useful. The thing that bothers me is that this place seems to know I'm not strictly one element. My powers stem form three blood lines fire light and dark Dante told me but enough about me kuza told me to come here now what are we doing in this place. It's freezing."

I look around the forest. Night Crows caw in the trees spirits moan and whisper in the distance. I could smell incoming rain. "I will tell you, but first we've got to get somewhere dry and out of the elements. We do not want to get caught in the rain." Dante kneeled down on one knee and touched the ground.

"Ok dude grab my shoulder he told me. I stepped over and gently place my left hand on his shoulder as we melted away into the shadows. The sound was always the same. Traveling through shadows was like traveling through a tunnel with no light, but a lot of sound. Like a wind tunnel almost. Plus the sound of pain and agony and sadness all together. For someone else, they would succumb to the sounds and become one of them. For us, the sounds are are about as meaningless.

We appeared in a small messy room with all white carpet and all white walls. There was a thin air mattress on the floor next to the window with a yellow comic book next to it. The air was warm with an actual heating system. I stepped out of the shadow and immediately tripped over a fan, making a bunch of noise.

"What the fuck."

"Shh," says Dante already sitting down on a plastic milk crate.

"Where are we," I ask. A little irritated.

"My house now shush. I'm trying to set up a wall around us that will make it seem like we're not here." He whispers with a smile playing on his lips.

Careful not to trip on anything else, I step by the window and look out to see the world I had not seen for so long.

"Your good," Dante says in a normal voice.

"So, what's been up with you?" I ask

"Not _too_ much, just one thing though," he said looking me in the eyes.

"What?"

"I had a dream," he said "Darkness, Light, Fire… they all were there."

"When," I ask almost certain from his tone that it wasn't good.

"Last year," he told me. "You need to hear this

. . .

Dante saw nothing but darkness, inky, milky darkness.

" _Youuuuu are still one of mine," the darkness said. "You will do the same and the other boy… the darkness said in a painful raspy voice._

 _Suddenly light filled his vision only enough to half the darkness_

" _He is not only yours but he is mine and since that is so he will not Fall to you," spoke a female's voice ._

 _At the last part of the lights sentence a bright orange flame sparked a roar between the light and darkness_

" _Don't forget. He is mine I give him the drive to choose his own path," it spoke in a male's voice._

 _The darkness hissed._

" _Light and fire are a mix I can't stand, but I will not be overpowered and driven out."_

" _You mean, like what your doing to the other boy," light asked._

 _Darkness laughed_

" _Of course did you really think you could stay with that one forever." Then the darkness just disappeared and the light and the fire merged forming something Dante knew all to well….. holy fire._

" _You mustn't let him take Michael," the holy flame spoke. "You must help him fight off Black."_


	4. off the grind in mid realm

Ch. 2 Off the Grid in Mid Realm

We stayed at Dante's place until morning, on the assumption that if anything were to follow us it would find us at one of our houses. So we went out to his backyard to break the old bicycles, since we couldn't use any of our abilities.

The sun was blinding today, mostly since I had not been in real human sunlight for several years. The closest thing I got to sunlight was in the Nature Realm, which you can't really count as blinding since everything there is meant to be comforting and peaceful. So the sun never got that harsh. It was cold too. Cold like I haven't felt for a long time. Normally when I have my powers I am immune to the cold and to heat. I can feel it, but it does not affect me or hinder me in any way.

"I fucking hate Mid Realm," I say teeth chattering.

"Hey, watch your language young man!" yells an elderly woman with paper white skin that loosely covered her hard angry expression.

I try to look her in the eyes the way I normally do when I want to know everything about them. But instead all that came to mind was a bunch of random shapes and colors that made no sense. The woman glared back, then to my astonishment disappeared in a gust of wind. "What in the fuck" I say out loud shaking my head. I rub my eyes and look again but still, she was gone. I turned to see Dante looking at me with emerald green eyes.

"I don't why she came here" Dante said walking closer to me." He put his hand on my shoulder. "She said she she was waiting on someone"

I glared up at the sky trying to find some useful sign "Man, why does this always happen to me," I complain.

"Who was it?" I ask

"My Grandma," he says a little wistful. "She been dead for years now,"

"Why would she show herself to me? Wait! You saw her too." I say forgetting the fact that his eyes were as good as mine.

"Alright well-" All the sudden there was a huge vibrating sound. The sound was so painful that I knew I could only hear it. I fell off my bike pain stabbing at my solar plexus and in the middle of my forehead. "Fuck!" I yell. Images flash through my head, though are too fast to make them out. Everything around me shakes from the immense vibrations. Agonized voices scream in my mind calling for help. All around me people move in stop motion like someone was flipping through pictures of them to slowly to make it seem real, but to fast to not move at all. Dante rushed toward me, not affected by the time warp, while I rocked back and forth on the ground with my hands held tightly over my ears, unsuccessfully trying to stop the vibrations from turning my brain to mush. When Dante reached me his eyes glowed with a fiery light like a mix of fire and light…

" _Fight it!"_ He yells in a two toned voice. One female one male. " _Don't let him win!"_ Dante grabbed my shoulders and shook me, his hands like molten iron on my human skin. " _Don't let him take you!"_ he yells. " _You are stronger than him!"_

Suddenly, I was back on my bike riding like nothing happened. My headache was gone and everything seemed normal.

"What do you want!" I yelled out fear grasping me late. "Ah!" I yelled, realizing too late that I was falling. With a crash, I landed on my back snapping my head back on the concrete sidewalk. I layed there for a second, getting my bearings. Dante turned around and dropped his bike on the sidewalk with an urgent look on his face.

"Hey!" he yells. "Hey. What did you see."

I looked at his eyes, trying to see if they were glowing like they had been before. They weren't. They were their usual emerald green that he always had in Mid Realm Then, as I watched, they turned from green to a deep purple that was so subtle I wouldn't even notice had I not been so close.

"It was Light and Fire," I say exhaling with relief. Dante looks at me with his royal purple eyes that slowly change to his normal eye color, hazel brown.

"Fire and light you say," Dante said helping me up from the ground. "This sounds kinda juicy spill all of it out," Dante told me laughing.

"Everything just turned all choppy," I stutter trying to recall. Their movements, I mean…"

"Hey," he yelled getting my attention away from my surroundings. "What did Light and Fire tell you."

"They weren't apart," I said. "They were together. Like bound in the same body."

"Whose body?" He demands.

I looked at him right in the eyes and said. "Yours."

Dante face went blank. "I honestly don't have a come back to that one Dante said closing his eyes"

"Me neither," I mutter

"Come on," he laughed. "Pick up your bike, I've got a place we can stay somewhere to stay."

"Where?" I asked. I didn't know that he had other places in Mid Realm. "Is it a safe house?"

"You could say that." he said smiling at me, but the look in his eyes were serious…

Dante took me to a brown brick two story home with an American flag and a Green Bay Packers flag that hung on separate white columns that held up a rundown wooden porch with a light purple paint that seemed to have just been thrown on right from the can.

We went to the door and rang the doorbell, which I could hear echo inside the house. There was a crash, then a curse as someone seemed to have been startled by the sudden sound of unexpected visitors. A moment later a plump women came to the door with wide eyes as if she had just gotten done drinking four pots of coffee.

"Hi Dante, Gray is upstairs," she told him. OK yes I can say when said gray a piece of me laughed. Who names their child grey I thought. Her eyes gazed towards me. She had grey eyes and that was what threw me off

There wasn't anything bad about it or about her, it was just….when her stormy grey eyes looked into mine I get caught in storm. Not a literally storm. Her eyes were just piercing and stormy.

"Your new," she says to me she waves for both of us to come in.

"Thanks," I say trying not to stare at her rare eyes.

I went upstairs after talking with Gray's mom. The house was the usual suburban home. There were children's toys on the floor and court paperwork on a glass coffee table with wooden legs. One of the legs had a crack so the surface of the table was lopsided. Past the stairs was a messy kitchen with a dining birch wood dining table in the center of a cheap wooden floor. I could see children's drawings on the table with crayons and colored pencils strewn all over the table and some on the floor underneath the chairs. It was obvious that there were children here, but there were none in sight.

The staircase was of birch stained birch wood that had a railing of the same wood. There were two flights of stairs that met at a small landing with a shaded window that had the shadow of tree branches silhouette . Then continued up to the top floor where there was a soft brown carpet that didn't seem to match the rest of the house.

There was a small hall that deadended at a door cheap brown door. There were two other rooms on either side of the hallway. One was cracked open a little and soft white sunlight filtered through a bathroom window. The other doors were closed, but I could hear the sound of video games playing behind the one opposite the bathroom. Dante knocked twice and the video game sounds were silenced.

"Come in," a boys voice says from behind the door.

Dante grabbed the door knob and pushed the door open and inside sat a boy with a coffee brown complexion and wicked grin on his face.

The room was decorated in a mix of Star Wars and Call of Duty posters. There was a cheap wooden dresser with unfolded clothes sticking out of the already broken drawers. There was a Star Wars replica of a gun that I didn't know the name of.

Taped to the wall by a messy bed was a small drawing of some monsters that caught my attention. The picture was good. The details were perfect. The thing that caught my attention was the details that shouldn't have been in a mortals drawing. The picture depicted a white beast with three golden arrows lodged in it's head and chest, exactly the way I had done the beast in the Spirit Realm with Dante. There was a dark figure standing next to who ever was main character of the drawing. He had a flaming chain attached to a scythe blade.

"No way," I say baffled by the ability at which this kid can see. "How did you know that." I say pointing at the drawing.

"I don't know," the boy said shrugging. "I just knew."

"But-" I start, but Dante raises his hand telling me to stop.

"Allow me and my buddy Gray to demonstrate Dante said patting grays shoulder.

"Huh," I said confused.

Dante looked at me and laughed. "Open a pocket dimension Miky ol pal," he told me.

"You mean a- never mind," I said changing my mind. I wanted to see how things would turn out. I focused on the closest realm to us. A layer between the Spirit Realm and Mid Realm. All the sudden, the room got colder and the golden sunlight faded a little. I focused more bringing us a little farther into the Spirit Realm. The sounds of spirits and zombies moaned in the distance. I brought us in far enough to allow our powers to get to their usual strength when we're not in Mid Realm. By that time the room was almost dark and the air had dropped about twenty degrees.

"Thanks Michael," said Dante.

"Ah, so he's the one you were telling me about. Isn't he Dante." I said realizing who I was looking at. Gray had been mentioned before the night we got to Mid Realm.

"Let's go outside," I said an evil smile playing on my lips.

Outside there was little traffic though that didn't really matter since nothing from that world could touch us anymore. I looked out using my enhanced vision to spot something to demonstrate on.

"You don't need to do that," said Dante somehow knowing what I was looking for.

"Why? Aren't you going to have him demonstrate?" I ask, wondering how they were going to demonstrate without an enemy for a target.

"Just watch," Dante said. He starts to get in a ready stance that he used to get in when we would spar.

"What are you doing-?"

"Just watch," he says again.

All the sudden there was a torrent of water that pushed me aside, but when I looked there was only Gray standing there with a blank expression on his face.

"What was that?" I demanded, looking around for the culprit. Then I slowly turned back to Dante who looked at me smugly. "Why are you looking at me like that. Something just attacked me with wa… ter…" I turned my head just in time to see a flash of water shoot toward me.

"Woh!" I yelled dodging back as the water flew past me toward Dante, who immediately met the water with a glowing blue arc of flame that turned the water to steam.

"Back up, Michael!" he yelled at me sending another blue flame at Gray who was now in a cloud of water vapor and dust, his shadow burned through the dark cloud of dust and water, his eyes glowed white like ghostly headlights in the dust.

"What the…" I couldn't understand what was going on. The shy looking boy I had seen earlier was now so strong that the elements around him shifted and changed, flowing around him like tornado.

I summoned my bow, but it was immediately taken out of my hands by a quick flash of water that through it away.

"Hey," I yelled.

"Don't attack him," Dante yelled from somewhere to my left. The air of whole block was now thick with dust and water vapor. If my hearing hadn't been any good I would never be able to navigate around the action.

There was an occasional flash of fire or splash of water, that accompanied a laugh or a yell in pain that accompanied a laugh.

"Clear the air a little. I can't see a thing."

In that exact moment the dust, smoke and vapor cleared away, but I couldn't see anyone anywhere.

"Dante?" I called.

"Right here, dude," said Dante's voice right behind me. I turned to see Dante and Gray standing on the sidewalk. I was on the road. We ended up in a city much bigger than Milwaukee. Skyscrapers towered high above us. The faded sound of heavy traffic echoed around us, along with the shadows of mortals in Mid Realm.

"Where are we," I asked looking around me at the completely new surroundings. Dante looked around at the busy streets filled with many people. In the distance he saw a tall building, a building he knew instantly.

"Well." he said pointing at the building. "That's the empire state building sooo," Dante said.

"Its New York," gray said.

"How the fuck did we get from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Manhattan New York." I said as the people and sounds around me solidified, bringing us back to Mid Realm.

"I don't know," Dante said looking around nervously. "But I think it has something to do with this area I think."

"So it's an aura, you say. What does it feel like." I asked

"I don't know…" Dante says looking around nervously at strangers, as if one of them was a monster. "This one feels like it's pulling at us almost as if it were waiting on us…"

"Well," I say. "I'm assuming that whatever is bringing us here, it will have us follow some sort of trail. At least now that we're here." I gesture around Times Square and started following my instincts.


	5. the trace back number

Ch. 3 The Trace Back Number

I walked at a fast pace, watching everything I possibly could as a human in Mid Realm. My senses were surprisingly good- too good. There's no way I would be able to be so aware of my surroundings if I wasn't in some sort of sub realm, but we weren't, we couldn't be, but… I stopped and took an even closer look at my surroundings.

"No way…" I say looking up at the city that mirrored the one we walked through.

"What? Oh _shit_!" Dante said mouth gaping at the sky city above us.

I looked back at the people on the ground- on _our_ side- They weren't real, they were just reflections of the city above us.

"How-" I start

"This is the Mirror Realm." An old man said happily from the crowd. Your being detained until the praetor and the Council of the Black Legion decide what to do with you all."

"You fucking-" I start reaching for my non existent bow.

"Oh here's your ride now." said the happy old man.

"A black GMC slid up up in front of us, and immediately a hood was pulled over my head the end of gun pushed into my back.

"Now don't try anything." said the old man slightly behind me. This is a mirror of Mid Realm, so your powers are the same as if you were actually there."

I heard Dante say as we were being pushed into the GMC, "Well this is classic. Are you going to tie us to a chair and demand to know why we're here too?"

"Actually yes," said a different voice when we got in the vehicle. "And no. Yes you are going to be tied to a chair. Yes it's going to be in an abandoned warehouse. No, we already know why your here. And yes Michael we are the Eyes."

"I'm surprised that you still have enough of your abilities Michael." said a women sitting next to the Eye.

"Your not an Eye," I say, not knowing how I knew that.

"No , Michael, I'm impressed you even know that." The women said with real apprehension. No we only need one for now. I am Leosmere. The goddess of the zodiac of the Lion."

All I could think of saying was. "I always thought of the zodiac Leo as a guy."

Leosmere's eyes glowed angrily, like a star.

"Hey," I heard Dante tell her, "You say your the goddess of the lion zodiac. Don't make me laugh," he said

"Your brave to have that type of tongue in the situation your in." Leosmere snarled.

"No I wouldn't say brave," Dante said. I could here by his voice his next set of words would set the table for our next move

"I would just say this, being born under the zodiac sign Leo I have some of your personality traits and to be honest…" The room began to heat. "You don't have the right to claim it." Dante said and as he said it leosmere was blown in the face with a gust of powerful wind

She looked at Dante in amazement. "So your a Leo, huh,"Leosmere said angrily, but I could tell from her voice that she was worried. Maybe even cautious…

Dante grinned. "Yes, and since you knew that already, you should also know that I'm not about to let us get taken that easily.

Gray who was so silent I almost forget he was there, looked at me through the bags (though i still don't know how) and sent a silent message with his eyes.

"I may not have my bow or my weapons," I say, understanding what I had to do. "But my most dangerous weapon of all…" I pointed to my head and immediately the Eye made a screeching sound as he was blasted back to wherever he came from. Leosmere looked shocked and so I kept her that way freezing her in time.

"We have to find the Trace Back!" I yelled to my friends after I took off the hood.

"What is that?" Dante yelled back as he fought the driver for the wheel.

"It's a mathematical algorithm. It will help us find out what exactly the patterns are, which will lead us to find out what the fuck is going on in Mid Realm!"

"Look up!" I yelled. Overhead, Manhattan was glowing orange like it was on fire, but there were no real flames.

"That's bad," said Grey, which was like the third thing I've heard him say all day. "It's Hell Sky," he said, darkly.

"The Lord of the Skies of Hell," I say mirroring his tone.

All the sudden there was a screech of tires behind us. "Fuck, more Eye Police." I yelled.

"That would be funny under different circumstances." Dante says. "I don't want to do this man." He yells at the driver. Then on the back of the driver's head two brown eyes open up as if they were sleeping.

"Ah!" Dante says jumping back. "Never fucking mind." He takes the drivers head with both hands and twists hard breaking the monster's neck. Unfortunately, as soon as the driver died the whole car disappeared, along with Leosmere, slinging us forward with the momentum of the car.

"Aaaah!" we scream as we're thrown into a parked car, crushing the whole backside of the car.

…

I looked up at the orange city above us, getting my bearings and checking to see if I broke anything.

"Ow." I moan.

"That fucking sucked," Dante said lifting himself out of the crater he created on the back of the car. Gray had imbedded himself into the trunk of another car. His head was resting through the back windshield. He looked like he got knocked out, until a huge burst water slashed around him like angry ribbons, which Gray used to vault himself in the air. He landed back on his feet so hard the ground cracked- Actually it shattered like glass. Gray didn't even look down to see what had broken underneath his feet.

Then there was a screeching sound in the distance.

"We need to find the Trace Back and get back to Mid Realm before the Eyes catch us. Then I thought about it… Actually no. We need to get caught again.

"Why?" Dante yelled. We just about got killed via road burn just a few seconds ago."

"The Eyes are guarding it. "Leosmere was going to tell us something, before you pissed her off."  
"Hey, I thought she was going to kill us."

"Dante, the Black Legion doesn't work for Black. They aren't even evil. In fact… we created it." I said thinking about it. "In the future we create it."

"So why are the Eyes chasing us?" Dante asked.

"They want me…" I say. "My mind is the only one capable of killing them and hiding from them. They can read my mind, but they can't track it… because it's everywhere… Even in their head…"

"Your dangerous," Dante said heavily. "Especially now that you know you can get in their head just as easily as they can get in yours."

"Yeah, except mine is more powerful. I can hide in plain sight. I can hide you both. Hold on let me think. I say closing my eyes.

Instantly, both Dante and Grey grab their ears.

"Hold on!" I yell. You have to adjust to having your mind split in every direction. It will only be temporary, ' _because if I did make it any longer, your mind will deteriorate from being split so many times.'_ I thought.

"I heard that!" Dante yelled out.

"Good that means we don't have to talk to each other out loud.


End file.
